Amazon River Basin

Author's Note: In This piece, I am trying to focus on having the sentence lengths vary and starting sentences with different words.

The Amazon River Basin is an interesting part of the world. It is located in the South American countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Perú, and Venezuela. The basin is filled with wildlife in it’s rainforest, mountains, and rivers. Within the midst of the Amazon Basin are tribal people.

When you talk about location, you can talk about absolute, which is measured by longitude and latitude, or relative, which is the general area. The absolute location, or center, of the basin is located 3.35 S, 64.71, which is in Brazil. The relative location is in the western hemisphere. The basin is mainly in northwestern South America.

Although the Amazon is known for it’s rainforest, it has many other physical characteristics. These include mountains, highlands, rivers, and lots of plant and animal life. The Andes Mountains stretch down the west side of the Amazon. The Andes Mountains are the second largest mountain range in the world, after the Himalayas, and the highest peak in the range is Mount Yerupaja, at 21,768 feet. The Amazon river, the main supply of water in the basin, begins in the Andes Mountains. The Amazon River flows through the basin and empties into Atlantic Ocean in Brazil. It is the second largest river in the world. The Basin is bordered by highlands to the north and south and oceans the the east and west.
 
The place of a location include things such as land, climate and schooling. The schools for the Amazon tribes are very scarce. Most children are not expected to attend school unless there is one in their village. Schooling in the Amazon only goes through eighth grade, not including Kindergarten.

In the Amazon, there are two seasons, wet and dry. In both seasons, there and rains which cause the climate to be hot and humid. The main difference between the seasons are that the rains are stronger and more common in the wet season. The rivers usually overflow during this season. In the areas near the Andes mountains, Winter months can be freezing. This can cause deaths for the thousands of plants in the area.

Human-environmental interaction is how people interact with their environment. The tribes in the Amazon live with the plants and animals. They only take what they need when they hunt or gather. However, the Amazon is being cut down for its trees. This is a map of the Amazon’s deforestation:

 

      







Movement is mainly transportation, immigration, and emigration. The Amazon tribes mainly travel by foot through the forest. Some tribes also use canoes on the Amazon river. Because the Amazon tribes are native people, there are no immigrants. However, several tribal people emigrate to other South American countries and move to modern day city. A lot of the native emigrants live in cities in Brazil such as Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo.
 
Region are the major parts of a country, such as  language and landforms, and government. In the Amazon’s case, there is no government becuase the population of people are tribes. The native tribes speak several languages such as Portuguese, Ponoa, Arawakan, and Tacana. Most tribes speak several languages so that they can communicate with other tribes.  The most spoken tribal language is Arawakan.

There are many different landforms in the Amazon. To the west of the basin, the Andes mountains stretch down the coast. The Amazon River forms in the Andes. The Amazon is bordered by highlands, or large plateaus, to the north and south. In the forest region there is flat land which flows of rivers including the Amazon.

The Amazon Rainforest has the most amount of plant species for any region in the world. There are 46 plants that have potential to cure cancer.  Over 1/5 of the world’s oxygen comes from the Amazon, giving the basin it’s nickname: The lungs of our planet. Scientist estimate there are over five million plants in the Amazon. All in all, the Amazon River Basin is a very interesting part of the world.

Should We Continue to Explore Mars?

Author's note: I am doing a project on space, mainly focusing on Mars. At the bottom of this post is a VoiceThread for this project. In this piece I am trying to not repeat the same word and use synonyms instead.


Should we continue to explore Mars? What is the purpose? I believe that explore Mars is the right choice. NASA has been exploring the red planet for 15 years. They have been trying to find signs of life on the only other habitable planet in our solar system.

The first rover to land was the Sojourner Rover. It’s main goal was the study rocks and soil. Part of this study included looking for hints of water, which all life needs. Sojourner Rover, or Mars Pathfinder, lasted for 3 months before it ran out of battery on September 27th, 1997.

Because of the rover’s successes, NASA has continued to launch more rovers. Two of the the most successful rovers were Spirit and Opportunity, otherwise known as the twin rovers. Spirit was launched on June 10th, 2003. It’s goal was similar to Mars Pathfinder; find water or signs of it. Spirit found extreme signs of water including layered rock, dry riverbeds, and eventually ice caps. Opportunity was launched on July 7th, 2003 and its mission was to find signs of water, test what is in the atmosphere, and find land forms that could have been shaped by water such as volcanoes and mountains. The rover found dry riverbeds, volcanoes, and mountains. It also was able to test the atmosphere on regular basis. These rovers were only supposed to last 3 months but Spirit survived until 2009 when it got stuck in a sand dune and Opportunity is still running.

The latest rover to arrive at Mars is Curiosity. It was launched on November 26th, 2011. It’s goal were to drill into the ground and collect rock samples. It would then look for microscopic bacteria in the sample. It also is suppose to determine the mineral composition of the Mars surface. It’s last goal is to determine the long term atmospheric change. Curiosity is supposed to last 668 sols, or 23 Earth months.

As I was doing why research, I realized that NASA that was interested in finding life on Mars, but I wasn’t exactly sure why. I discovered that after Earth, Mars is the planet with the most hospitable climate in the solar system. It seemed that about 100,000 years ago, Mars would have been pouring water and possibly life. Could this vision of the red planet be restored? This led NASA to explore Mars in 1997 and continues to do so today.          


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Norax- The Voyage Chapter 2

After an hour or so, they had assigned positions for the trip. The werewolf was captain with Gladius and the two dwarves under him. The rest of the people were cooks—who also fished--, warriors, or deck hands. The boat would be leaving in slightly less than 2 weeks. For the next two weeks, which was two days in the actual world.  For those two weeks, everyone worked as hard as they could. When it was time for group to leave, the boat was filled with weapons, food, and other gear they needed to survive. Everyone was on board and ready but the captain was nowhere to be seen. About half an hour, the werewolf showed up bleed out in four different places. Gladius ran up to him and healed him. He said that he was attacked by mutant seagulls that were flying at the under end of the docks. Just as he finished telling the crew that the seagulls had two heads and talons, a group of about 100 of them flew over at them.

The captain told the crew to take off. As the book started to lurch forward, three men went to the back of the boat and began to fire their crossbows at the birds.  Birds began falling onto the boat or in the ocean. Soon, the birds flew away realizing they were outmatched.  Gladius and the two dwarves began to gather the birds on the ship and bring them to the cooks to prepare for dinner. 

My Favorite Quotes

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. - Abraham Lincoln 

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - Saint Augustine

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. -Micheal Jordan

You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get. - Micheal Phelps

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. -Vince Lombardi 

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -Aristotle


The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. -Franklin D. Roosevelt



The game isn't over till the clock says zero. - Paul Pierce


I'm not paid to be a role model, parents should be role models. -Charles Barkley

You have to be the one setting your own goals, trying to achieve those goals. -Johnny Bench


Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. - Martin Luther King Jr.

The Voyage- Chapter 1

              Author's note: I am planning on writing a short book. It is a sequel to Norax and I will be posting chapter by chapter. In this series, I am working on vocabulary.                   

          

             Adam’s mother dialed 911. Since the station has two blocks away from the house, the police arrived in a heartbeat, which Adam didn’t have many of left. They found him and realized that he was shot in the shoulder.

                Five minutes ago a sniper had been laying on a neighbor’s roof, waiting for Julio Stevens, the state’s governor. However, he had been sent to the wrong house. Having mistaken Adam for Julio, he shot at Adam. Adam would have a bullet in his head if he hadn’t bent over for the phone. Now, Adam was being rushed to the hospital, while the police chased after what appeared to be the gunner’s getaway car.

                Once Adam was hurried into ER, a needle was stuck in his arm and he blacked out. Hours later, he woke up. He was scared out of his mind when he saw all of the equipment around him. A nurse came in and told him that he would be alright but it may be two to three weeks before he was released from the hospital. Once she left, Adam noticed his entire surroundings. There were hundreds of balloons, flowers, and gifts. Also, several things from his house had been brought there, including his laptop. When his parents walked in, he asked for it. Once they were gone, he proceeded to open Norax.

                Gladius  was sitting next to the two dwarves who were sleeping. He woke them up. They informed him that a werewolf came by looking for him. He said that he bought a large warship and wanted to sail out across the sea and search for new wealth. He needed a experienced crew and asked if he could host a tryout at Gladius’ arena. Gladius went to the hotel room where the werewolf was. He said that he would allow him to use the arena under one condition, that he and the dwarves could come too. The wolf agreed.

                The next day, Gladius, the dwarves, and the werewolf enter the host box while hundreds of people were preparing to take part. The first test of the was battling. After everyone was completed about 150 people were dismissed. Before noon, everyone went through a target practice using a cannon. Then, the remaining 52 people were allowed a break while the arena was flooding using underground water channels. 4 medium sized ships were brought in and each person was assigned to a boat. There was room for 26 more people on the voyage so the final two ships would make the cut.

                Once the battle had begun, it seemed that one ship was doomed. Two ship had headed straight for it. However, this boat had 4 people that had crossbows. One ship was smart and turned away once they saw the arrows raining down. However, the second attacker wasn’t so bright. The captain had ran to the front with his longbow but it didn’t have near enough range and he was hit. The boat was hit in the side by a cannon ball and it quickly began to sink. Everyone abandoned the ship and swam towards to player exit. The ship who had retreated were now cornered in the middle of the arena. Both of the attacker shot at the ship but only scored one hit. One ship shot far over and hit the other attacker. That ship sank and the remaining two ships were crowned winners. The arena was drained and the winners meet inside the owner suite.

End of chapter 2

Gone

Author's note: I am currently reading Gone by Micheal Grant. This is a response to that book.

As I was reading Gone, I realized it was a lot like the Hunger Games. In Gone, Everyone 15 or older disappears and the children are left to fend for themselves. As I read these books, I wondered what caused people to like Dystopian books.

At first, I thought it was all of the action that pulled readers in. After a while, I started to uncover the reason. It seems that the authors are writing as you almost were in the story. I also noticed this happens in the Maze Runner series. Once I came to this conclusion, another problem popped in my head. How do the authors crate this feeling?

It seemed you me that they used extremely great details, especially on people. This caused the felling that you knew the characters, therefore putting you in the book. Also, when some of the characters felt pain, it felt as you almost felt the pain to. This was because authors used details to make you either like or dislike certain character. Lastly, characters are around our age which is easier to relate to. It seems to me that we like Dystopia books mainly because of how the author writes.

Runaways

Author’s note: Today I was having trouble thinking of what to write so I just decided to think as I write. Hopefully this might turn out well.

                In the town of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, Seth had been running from police for quite some time. He had been driving his motorcycle for a while and he was running out of gas. He was about to jump until a giant 15-seat car drove up next to him. Driving the car was Jack. He opened the passenger door and yelled for Seth jump in. Once Seth was in the car they drove towards the school district. On their way, they called their friends and told them to come in front of the school. Once they arrived, their 11 friends, piled into the back seats. Jack told everyone that they were going on a road trip while running from the cops.

                Before they left town, they went through a Taco Bell drive through. They also stopped at Wal-Mart and bought loads of snacks and movies for on the road. Just before they reach Chicago, they stopped at a RV retailer. They bought the largest RV with the penny they found outside the building. They then made shifts for driving. Seconds after hitting the road again, the police were right behind them.

                Once they reached Chicago, they stopped at a gas station and bought gas, more movies, subs for dinner, and 2 lottery tickets. They drove for two more hours before they found a spot to hide in a state forest. When they woke up, a cute family of beavers was outside. Jack decided to adopt them. Once they were on their way, they stopped at a pet store to get beaver food. Seth asked Jack how he got all this money and he said he found it in his couch. They got McDonald’s for breakfast and decided to drive to Maine. When they were at a gas station in Indiana, they met Andrew Luck. He said that he wanted to come too. Seth didn’t want him to but he gave in when he was bribed with 750,000 dollars and a shiny penny.

                Jack decided that he wanted to go to Texas first. It was 1 A.M. when they finally got to Dallas. Jack was walking to a Target when he ran into Tony Romo and Jason Witten. They wanted to come too. Jack agreed under one condition, that they would buy 3 more RVs. The next morning on the way out of town 3 more RVs were purchased and hooked up.

                Five hours later, in Arkansas, they ran into a huge family. They called themselves the Duggers. Tony Romo said that they have a TV show that he watches. Jason told them to get on and it was too late for Jack to stop them. By nightfall, They reached Greensboro, North Carolina. Theo, one of Jack’s friends, said his cousins lived here so they went to their house. They joined the crew bringing a fridge full of food.

                The next day they arrived in Maine at 6:30 in the afternoon. The three football players went out fishing. They came back with 46 lobsters, 51 crabs, and 4 buckets of shrimp. The group had a feast. Just before they finished, they were surrounded  by police. One officer walked up to Seth. He said, “Why were you running from me? I just wanted to ask you if you were the person who caught the home run at the Brewer’s game last week. However, since you ran from us, why don’t we have fun chasing you again. I’m giving you 15 minutes from the time your car’s engine starts.”

                Seth told everyone to get into their assigned RV and bring some of the food and movies with them. In 10 minutes, they were on the road again. In the car, was Jack, Seth, Theo, and the beavers. After 15 minutes, they were almost to Canada. Jack thought that if they drove across Canada and enter the U.S. again in Washington, the police would have trouble finding them.

                After driving for one and ½ days without stopping, the crew had reached Seattle. It was a Tuesday morning and the night before the Green Bay Packers had lost to the Seahawks. Seth ran into three Seahawks players, Russell Wilson, Golden Tate, and Marshawn Lynch. They bought another trailer and hooked it up.  It was late afternoon when the group arrived in the Rocky Mountains. The decided to build a permanent camp in a clearing the found. In the middle of the camp, they made a semicircle of RVs around a camp fire.

                The next morning Seth, Jack, and Matt, another friend, went to a nearby town. They came back with two new pickup trucks plus the original car full of food.  They made 50+ trips throughout the day bringing building supplies, tools, and clothes to the base. They also brought one more RV. By the end of the day, they had built 3 small cabins to cook in, a wall around the base with a raising gate, and a pet hotel for the beavers.

                Throughout the next month, they had constructed a mansion that had ports for each car and RVs to dock in and a helipad for the new helicopter they purchased. Then, after a month of searching, the police spotted them. They were so impressed of the fort that they asked if they could join too. Seth and Jack let them. 

                They grew stronger and lived happily ever after. Except, that’s not what happenned. No one likes stories that end that way.  They colony grew so strong that they began taking over the state of Colorado. The government soon noticed this and began to attack them. Just before they launched the attack, Damian Cray (from Eagle Strike Alex rider series) had launched every missile the US owned at Colorado. The colony ended in a giant fiery ball. The lesson here is: if you catch a home run, give the ball to the person next to you.